Hi there long time lurker first time poster. I used to have a DirectTV TiVo (modded of course for networking and what not) but i had to sell it when i switched back to cable. I thought the Comcast DVR would do the job but man was i wrong. I curse the day that thing came in my house. Anyway woot.com had some Refurb Series 2HD a few weeks ago and I snagged 2. I called Comcast Thursday to set up an appointment and the phone rep repeated back to me that i was having 2 DVR's replaced by 2 CableCards. I corrected her and said i need 4. Two for each TiVo. After some puzzled silence i explained that the TiVO had 2 tuners and i needed a card for each. The rep agreed with me and added into the comments that i need 4 CC's. Well today was my install date and after being causally late the tech (contractor) arrives with only 2 cards. So now i have 2 TiVos with one tuner each until they return Wednesday with my other cards. The installer was here from about 1:30PM until about 3:30PM to install 2 cards. He accidentally unplugged one of the boxes and had to run through the guided setup again. In the end both service calls will be free since they were late today ($20 account credit) and the next is free bc they screwed up. COMCASTIC!!!

One quick question. The OLED on one of the TiVos doesn't come on at all. I checked the settings and its set to bright. I plan on calling TiVo tomorrow to try to get a replacement since the box has a 90 day warranty through TiVo. Am i going to have an issue putting the CableCards in the new box when I get it?

Am i going to have an issue putting the CableCards in the new box when I get it?

Yes. Each device that takes a CableCARD (TiVo, regular TV, etc.) has a unique Host ID. The card must be paired with that ID. Only Comcast can do this--basically they authorize the card(s) associated with your account to work in that device.

When you get the new TiVo, you will have to re-activate the cards. Go on to Comcast's site and bring up a web chat and keep talking to reps asking for the number to call to activate cable cards. There's one that ends in 4021 that you'll be looking for. I got this number last week but neglected to write it down. I don't know for sure if it's any different or if it's just an alternate number to 1-800-COMCAST. The number given on the CableCARD screen from TiVo appears to be a mirror. Make sure you choose "add service" in the menu options to have the best chance of getting a rep that knows what they're doing. If all they do is "send a signal" and don't ask for Host IDs, etc. call back and get a different rep.

Yes. Each device that takes a CableCARD (TiVo, regular TV, etc.) has a unique Host ID. The card must be paired with that ID. Only Comcast can do this--basically they authorize the card(s) associated with your account to work in that device.

When you get the new TiVo, you will have to re-activate the cards. Go on to Comcast's site and bring up a web chat and keep talking to reps asking for the number to call to activate cable cards. There's one that ends in 4021 that you'll be looking for. I got this number last week but neglected to write it down. I don't know for sure if it's any different or if it's just an alternate number to 1-800-COMCAST. The number given on the CableCARD screen from TiVo appears to be a mirror. Make sure you choose "add service" in the menu options to have the best chance of getting a rep that knows what they're doing. If all they do is "send a signal" and don't ask for Host IDs, etc. call back and get a different rep.

At least in the Great Lakes region only Dispatch can do Cable Cards, your odds of talking a rep into patching you into Dispatch are very slim (I have done it .. so it is possible, but they will fight you tooth and nail. Comcast policy is that anything having to do with a cable card requires a truck roll and a charge to you for the monkey to come to your house and place the same phone call you just did.

I have Comcast coming out next week to swap my old CableCARD out of my TV for (hopefully) a Multi-Stream card in my new TiVo. The representative I talked to confirmed that the technician would bring an M-Card, so hopefully that is truly the case!

At least in the Great Lakes region only Dispatch can do Cable Cards, your odds of talking a rep into patching you into Dispatch are very slim (I have done it .. so it is possible, but they will fight you tooth and nail. Comcast policy is that anything having to do with a cable card requires a truck roll and a charge to you for the monkey to come to your house and place the same phone call you just did.

They tried to activate my card over the phone last week, but my Host ID was associated with someone else's account, so they rolled a truck (same day even!) for free. It sounds like this isn't the norm though. The tech did have to call 2nd level support though.

They finally got my Cablecard working by changing the "headend" whatever that means but I am not receiving all HD Channels or HBO for that matter. Is there some reason these channels would not come through?

I get HD ABC,CBS,NBC, and a few others but HD SyFy not coming through. Any thoughts?

They finally got my Cablecard working by changing the "headend" whatever that means but I am not receiving all HD Channels or HBO for that matter. Is there some reason these channels would not come through?

I get HD ABC,CBS,NBC, and a few others but HD SyFy not coming through. Any thoughts?

Thanks again for all the comments.

They think you're not paying for those channels. If you are, give them a call.

To oversimplify, the headend is a computer that controls authorizations. In this case it has the ID of your CableCARD and says that that ID is not allowed to decrypt HBO.

They finally got my Cablecard working by changing the "headend" whatever that means but I am not receiving all HD Channels or HBO for that matter. Is there some reason these channels would not come through?

I get HD ABC,CBS,NBC, and a few others but HD SyFy not coming through. Any thoughts?

Thanks again for all the comments.

It sounds like you're getting the basic channels but not the not-so-basic ones, including the encrypted ones. Usually the cause is that your card is not properly paired, which is an issue at the Comcast end (you can't configure this at your end). See this discussion at the Tivo website for troubleshooting tips.

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I have a TivoHD with 1TB of storage. Don't make me use it.

It sounds like you're getting the basic channels but not the not-so-basic ones, including the encrypted ones. Usually the cause is that your card is not properly paired, which is an issue at the Comcast end (you can't configure this at your end). See this discussion at the Tivo website for troubleshooting tips.

Very good advice, cjv2. I would add, based on my experience with two recently installed cablecards in a new TiVo HD, it is possible for a card to be assigned at the headend to the wrong account, e.g., that of a previous user of the same card, who did not subscribe to HBO or whatever.

That can be fixed by Comcast personnel at their end, but it took me I don't know how many phone calls before I found a person who noticed the problem and arranged for other personnel at their end to fix it. That took about half an hour or so.

The other card would not "pair" properly no matter how many times they sent the necessary signal to "hit" it, and after doing that several times the card became totally non-responsive. I was told these cards have a limit as to how many times they can be "hit." After that, they become permanently "fried."

The final fix came when a technician came to my home and replaced both S-cards with one M-card, which worked fine right away.

The moral of my story: there are some cablecard problems that can be fixed by intelligent people at the headend. There are others which can't be fixed at all.

And some need a service call: An older TiVo HD of mine had a similar problem with not being able to pick up premium channels — on an M-card, this was — and the fix was for a service tech to come to my home and replace a "bad" signal splitter in the input cable line. The original installer could just as easily have checked the splitter once the premiums failed to come in, but instead he left after telling me it "takes a while" before all the channels can be expected to appear.

My experience is exactly the opposite: when the card is functioning right, the splitter is not bad, the setup at the headend is appropriate, etc., the "zap" signal sent from the headend at the instigation of personnel working there brings all the subscribed channels in just about immediately.

Definitely check out the TiVo support website material. It helped me understand terminology like "pairing," even if I couldn't solve the problems I had, all by myself.

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Eric Stewart
Catonsville, MD

Last edited by epstewart; 03-23-2010 at 08:15 AM..
Reason: Changed "zap" to "hit"

1st Call: Called them about to activate my cablecard as I picked one up from the local office. She said she activated it and would take a few hours to take effect. I knew that wasnt true. I was only getting basic channels. She didnt even ask any details from the tivo

1st Chat: Just told them how should i go about on activating my cablecard. She gave me a number. easy peasy

2nd Call: After a long wait, i told her I want to activate my card. She said she needs to send a hit to my cablecard. She just asked for the serial number to my card. After the hit, she asks me to check a few channels and i told her i do get them. (though initially she thought i could get on demand thru my tivo. lol. i told her the tivo isnt capable of getting on demand). and again she never asked any info from the tivo besides serial number of the cc.

I get all the channels I am suppose to (at least the channels i cared about ESPNHD and CSNHD. i checked for a few more and it seems everything is there).

But one thing I noticed is that I still get "Val: ?"

"Auth:" did change from "MP" to "S" after the hit.

Knowing myself, do I really need to fix the Val issue? I rather not hassle myself if it doesnt affect anything per se.

1st Call: Called them about to activate my cablecard as I picked one up from the local office. She said she activated it and would take a few hours to take effect. I knew that wasnt true. I was only getting basic channels. She didnt even ask any details from the tivo

1st Chat: Just told them how should i go about on activating my cablecard. She gave me a number. easy peasy

2nd Call: After a long wait, i told her I want to activate my card. She said she needs to send a hit to my cablecard. She just asked for the serial number to my card. After the hit, she asks me to check a few channels and i told her i do get them. (though initially she thought i could get on demand thru my tivo. lol. i told her the tivo isnt capable of getting on demand). and again she never asked any info from the tivo besides serial number of the cc.

I get all the channels I am suppose to (at least the channels i cared about ESPNHD and CSNHD. i checked for a few more and it seems everything is there).

But one thing I noticed is that I still get "Val: ?"

"Auth:" did change from "MP" to "S" after the hit.

Knowing myself, do I really need to fix the Val issue? I rather not hassle myself if it doesnt affect anything per se.

Check to see if the Encore channels and your premium channels (if you have any of these, anyway) come in.

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I have a TivoHD with 1TB of storage. Don't make me use it.

If that's the case your Data ID is probably incorrect in their system, doesn't match what the card shows. I had the same problem last year when they started protecting the Encores, Movieplex, and Flix.

If that's the case your Data ID is probably incorrect in their system, doesn't match what the card shows. I had the same problem last year when they started protecting the Encores, Movieplex, and Flix.

That is *exactly* how my issue showed up - exactly the same channels. And I had two S-Cards at the time, one set up properly, one not, making it downright crazy to figure out why "sometimes the channels were there" and sometimes... well, yino.

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I have a TivoHD with 1TB of storage. Don't make me use it.

Okay, my TiVo HD XL is now offically up and running and is occasionally doing updates to get all the programming information. I've even set it up to await the installation of the mCard CableCARD tomorrow, too.

Question: what will happen to my TiVo box when the Comcast-supplied mCard CableCARD is installed? Will it have to go through the entire rigmarole of going back onto the the Internet through my wireless connection and get the CableCARD compatible digital program guide?

Okay, my TiVo HD XL is now offically up and running and is occasionally doing updates to get all the programming information. I've even set it up to await the installation of the mCard CableCARD tomorrow, too.

Question: what will happen to my TiVo box when the Comcast-supplied mCard CableCARD is installed? Will it have to go through the entire rigmarole of going back onto the the Internet through my wireless connection and get the CableCARD compatible digital program guide?

From what I understand you don't have to even though I did. From what I was told you can go to Messages & Settings > Settings > Channels > Channel List > press Enter.... I did it the hard way.

I am in the middle of a switch from FIOS to Comcast and have been pretty disappointed so far with trying to get my HDXL activated. Comcast gave me four Cablecards. I've tried two (one at a time) of them and nobody on the phone seemed able to pair either of them to my unit.

It keeps reading OOB on some of the screens and from what I could find online that seems to indicate that the box and network aren't liking each other.

They insisted a tech come out this Sunday so solve this and I reluctantly caved in and said, "okay" to this, even though there are no places to enter anything on the Tivo screen and I suspect it will be someone reading the same numbers I read off and having it work.

I started Guided Setup thinking that might help but now that I can't activate/pair I can't proceed past that screen. Should I unplug it and restart before they arrive to see if that helps or is that a bad thing to do if you've begun Guided setup?

If this one is so hard to get going, I fear what the Series 3 with its two-card requirement is going to be like.

I am in the middle of a switch from FIOS to Comcast and have been pretty disappointed so far with trying to get my HDXL activated. Comcast gave me four Cablecards. I've tried two (one at a time) of them and nobody on the phone seemed able to pair either of them to my unit.

It keeps reading OOB on some of the screens and from what I could find online that seems to indicate that the box and network aren't liking each other.

They insisted a tech come out this Sunday so solve this and I reluctantly caved in and said, "okay" to this, even though there are no places to enter anything on the Tivo screen and I suspect it will be someone reading the same numbers I read off and having it work.

I started Guided Setup thinking that might help but now that I can't activate/pair I can't proceed past that screen. Should I unplug it and restart before they arrive to see if that helps or is that a bad thing to do if you've begun Guided setup?

If this one is so hard to get going, I fear what the Series 3 with its two-card requirement is going to be like.

Well my experience with my Series 3 was good after the 2nd truck roll. The first tech only installed one card in each box due to an error on the work order. The second tech they sent was their "CableCard Expert" because he used to own a TiVo. He had to call his supervisor to see if it was ok to use 2 m-cards in the same box.

Right now I just received my replacement TiVo and i was going to try to get the phone number for CC activation from the online chat as suggested but after the first session I had I think im going to just shoot an email over to the We_Can_Help email address

Has anyone else received a letter regarding an increase in rates for the New England region? The letter says that the rate (in my town) is going from $60.15 to $62.45 for Digital Starter effective April 24th. We just had a rate increase in February as well.

The reason I'm asking is that I'm wondering if this has to do with the fact that I took Comcast up on getting a free digital adapter (which I have no use for at all, but thought I might as well take for free, and if so, I should just return it). Or, is everyone getting another increase in 2 months. They just never seem to stop raising their rates.

Can I move my cablecard m-card from my old Tivo HD to my new Tivo Premiere with no problems? Or is it paired to some unique id in my Tivo HD?

I'm actually in the process of switching boxes now. I didn't get any help from the phone support but I sent an email to we_can_help @ cable.comcast.com and got a response in 15 min asking for a phone number to call me at.

Well the tech came to the house and as I suspected, he didn't do anything I couldn't have done. He read the same numbers to someone on the phone that I did but they did it for him and not for me. I think it blows that Comcast involves a technician and wastes customer time arranging a service call for something that is 100% user serviceable. What a waste of time and resources.

Now that the whole house is moved from FIOS to Comcast, I'm pretty impressed. They've saved me $1700 over two years by switching.